Week 4 of our organic produce delivery was delivered on September 2, 2009.  The contents of the box included – 1 head of broccoli, 1 large local beet, 2 local cucumbers, 3 local nectarines, grapes, 3 local apples, 5 carrots, 2 bananas, 1 local green pepper, green leaf lettuce, and local kale.

That night we decide to make a simple improv meal with a main course using mung beans, carrots from our box, and serrano peppers from our garden.

Ingredients used : 1 cup whole mung beans, 3 cups of sliced carrots, 2 serrano peppers, 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 1/8 teaspoon asafetida, kosher salt to taste.

Begin with cooking the mung beans; cooking time will vary if you are using split mung beans.  We used whole mung beans.  Bring 1 cup of mung beans in 3 cups of water with a dash of salt to a boil, covered and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until the water is absorbed and the mung beans are tender.

In the meantime prepare the rest of your ingredients.  Peel and slice your carrots into thin rounds, seed and slice your serrano peppers and have your spices ready.  We used 2 serrano peppers from our garden; they were extremely spicy and I was not sure if adding both would be give much heat, but combined with the rest of the ingredients it was not very spicy at all. I would consider adding more next time.

Once your mung beans are ready start cooking your vegetables.  In a large wok over medium heat add a splash of olive oil, add one serrano pepper and 2 teaspoons of black mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds begin to pop add cumin seeds, asafetida, and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.  Stir in carrots and the other serrano and cook slightly until desired tenderness.  Add cooked mung beans, salt to taste and eat.

This meal was made on the fly; it was tasty and very filling.  Mung beans are a hearty addition to any meal, they can take the place of rice or be used in addition.

Week two of our organic produce delivery, received on August 12th 2009.  This week our box seemed a little heavier than last, this is what was in it :: broccoli, 2 bananas, 8 apricots, 8 white nectarines, green leaf lettuce, 2 apples, kale, 4 russet potatoes, a box of cherry tomatoes, & 1 ear of corn.

For our weekly roommate dinner we made a curry, muffins, and fruit salad each including something from our delivered produce box-

The curry was a little sweet and moderately spicy; we added flavors as we cooked and because of this we can’t share an exact recipe for it with you because we don’t know it! Sorry, it was an add and taste situation- spice taste spice taste spice taste until it’s done!  However, we can tell you what went into our curry and how we cooked it.  And, if we could do it- why couldn’t you?

Ingredients in this curry : from our produce box- an ear of corn chopped off the core, 2 medium russet potatoes, & broccoli. From our home- Basil from the garden, garlic, mushrooms, two cans of coconut milk, cumin powder, ginger powder, chili garlic paste, hot curry powder, coriander powder, salt, turmeric, basmati rice.

We ate our curry over basmati rice; this particular rice only takes about 10 minutes or so to cook, so we chopped and prepared all of our vegetables ahead of time and had our spice selection and coconut milk ready and near our wok before we even thought about the rice. We started the curry first and then the rice. However, if you are cooking a rice that takes forever (50 minutes) you’ll want to get that going early on in your dinner prep.

To start, in a splash of olive oil, fry about 2 cloves chopped or crushed garlic.  Add in some initial spices and fry for a moment. Include coconut milk and simmer for a moment dissolving the spices.  At first you can be pretty liberal with your spices, to make a coconut curry without a pre-made curry paste you need to add quite a bit of powdered spices. Start off with at least a teaspoon of each and go from there.  Allow the spice to simmer and add more to taste as you are cooking.  Once you add the vegetables the curry will inherit more flavors, adjust spices to taste.  Add potato chunks first and simmer, cook until half way done, include corn, mushrooms, and broccoli and simmer while adjusting your spices. Cook until vegetable are how you like them, avoid overcooking the potatoes, all the other vegetables are fine if they’re a little crispy. Just before eating time include the basil.  Serve over rice.

Apricots, white nectarines, mint, and sesame coated cashews!
Wow, imagine all of them together in one salad. Um, yeah- it’s amazing. Absolutely delicious.  There’s not a lot of explaining to do on this one, it was quick and easy but the flavors are complexly wonderful. Cool, spicy, sweet and minty with a crunch!  Oh my.

We used our white nectarines and apricots from our produce box, the mint was cut from our garden, and the sesame honey cashews are a mix made by Trader Joe himself.  The instructions are simple- cut fruits into bite sized pieces, tear mint leaves into the bowl and add your nuts!  That is all! The nuts in this dish are brilliant because they come packed with flavor that adds a whole new element to a simple fruit salad.  The cashews are coated with a bit of sweet and spicy and then rolled in sesame seeds.  So delicious and so easy.

Fresh nectarine and apricot muffins

We make a lot of muffins in this house- even in the summer. We often will add blueberries, walnuts, spices, or vegan chocolate, and almost always use bananas, but this would be the first time we ever tried using fresh apricots or nectarines.  We started with this basic recipe from The Joy of Cooking book and the we added fresh nectarine and apricot pieces.

Recipe :: makes 12 muffins.
This is a modified version of the Banana Nut Muffin recipe from The Joy of Cooking.

Preheat oven to 375°

whisk together dry ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Whisk together in a large bowl:
1 large egg
¾ cup packed lite brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 nectarines chopped
2 apricots chopped

Fold in dry ingredients until batter is smooth, avoid over mixing. Divide batter between the 12 muffin cups and bake for 14-16 minutes.

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